If you’ve ever been to the Space Within yoga studio in Muswell Hill, you might’ve spotted a few famous faces on the walls – and one very famous torso! It was my dad, Donald Silverstein, who was responsible for that now-iconic image of Jimi Hendrix. He took lots of other photos during that shoot, too – but until recently, they’d never been seen by the public…

Donald Silverstein’s iconic image

For most of his career, Dad worked as a fashion photographer, and his images were often used on the cover of Vogue. But he also worked with a number of musicians.

The Donald Silverstein Experience!

Back in 1967, he did a shoot with Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell – a.k.a. The Jimi Hendrix Experience. One of the images from that session is now known the world over, after it was used on a poster sold by Track Records – it’s the one featuring Jimi wearing an open shirt, exposing a lean torso, and looking typically cool.

‘Can you see me?’

Of course, this now-iconic image wasn’t the only photo taken that day. Dad had a huge collection of prints and negatives from the shoot, which were never used commercially. As a family, we held them close to our hearts and homes for a long time after dad’s death in 1975. But in recent years, we agreed that it was time to share these hidden gems with the rest of the world.

At Bayeaux, London, getting dad’s images printed!

So we did two things: we worked with London’s Snap Gallery to create a collection of previously-unseen limited-edition prints, which were then put on sale; and we collaborated with London-based clothing company, Organik Rocka, to produce a t-shirt, featuring one of dad’s lesser-known images of Jimi.

It was the first time it had ever been printed on material, and we still get a thrill when we see someone wearing the t-shirt – especially when it’s someone like Johnny Nelson (yes, the Johnny Nelson – as in the longest reigning cruiserweight world boxing champion of all time!), who’s proudly wearing dad’s image of Jimi across his chest – check out this Instagram post!

‘Hey Joe’, where d’ya get that… t-shirt?

We’re now looking forward to seeing a few more of these limited-edition t-shirts being worn, because Organik Rocka has just printed another run! If you want one (and why wouldn’t you?), you can buy direct from their website.

I’ve still got a handful of very special limited-edition prints of some of the other photos my dad took during his shoot with Jimi, too – please feel free to contact me personally, if you’re interested in buying one.